Editorial: Making schools safe takes many forms

A woman carries a boy from Sandy Hook Elementary School out of staging area at a firehouse for families after being reunited after a shooting at the school where a gunman opened fire, leaving 26 people dead, including 20 children.

Local school districts are approving initiatives aimed at increasing safety after the horrifying tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Parents, students and school faculty and staff should expect no less and must continue to push not only for changes but for vigilance once new procedures are in place.

Keeping schools safe requires a communitywide effort, including how we deal with people with mental illnesses and how much attention parents are paying to their children.

While it's impossible to guarantee safety, some common-sense approaches must be taken when it comes to school security. And school districts throughout the area can definitely learn from one another by looking for best practices and sharing information.

The Poughkeepsie Journal recently surveyed 16 local school districts to ascertain what security they have in place - and what new methods they are taking or considering in the wake of the mass murder in Connecticut. If they haven't already, school officials and parents in particular should avail themselves of this information, which can be found at www.poughkeepsiejournal.com.

As the Journal report noted, districts are instituting everything from new video cameras to hiring po­lice officers and security staff. Surely, there is no panacea for keeping schools safe, but local school districts are concentrating on better security and identification processes at entrances. Some districts are using a single-entry-point system monitored by a school em­ployee or security greeter, keeping other doors locked and/or installing video cameras. Other interesting ideas being pursued are purchasing more walkie-talkies to enhance communications within buildings by staff and providing substitute teachers with more training on safety procedures.

When purchasing security-related equipment, school dis­tricts also can take advantage of the higher reimbursement rates the state is offering. That change was included in the NY-SAFE Act, the recently enacted gun-control legislation. That law, while controversial in some ways, also establish­es "school safety improvement teams" to re­view districts' safety plans, the Journal's Albany Bureau reported.

In 2000, the state passed a law requiring such plans but technology and many other things have changed since then; a thorough and then constant review of these plans would make abundant sense.

The state can't fall down on the job, as it did a few years ago regarding the inspections and monitoring of the physical safety of school buildings. In 2010, a Poughkeepsie Journal investigation noted the state's system developed to ensure school building safety had not worked for years, in part due to flaws in computer software that was supposed to be tracking comprehensive inspections. The state's follow-through was abysmal in that case; it must not fail here.

Unquestionably, a stronger police presence in schools should be part of the answer as well. In some communities across the country, for instance, law enforcement officers have taken to filling out their regular reports in their vehicles parked on school grounds. Having law enforcement officers in schools at designated times is a great plus - but there also is a great benefit to seeing a random presence of police officers on school grounds.

Communication between schools and parents also is critically important. In fact, districts are required to have in place a notification system in the event of an emergency; typically this involves an automated system that sends a phone, email or text message to parents. Too often, though, people wait until a crisis occurs before seeking clarity about their school district's protocol.

Parents must be prepared - just as prepared as we expect our school and law enforcement officials to be in a crisis situation that people would rather think couldn't happen here.

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Editorial: Making schools safe takes many forms

Local school districts are approving initiatives aimed at increasing safety after the horrifying tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.